Write an analysis of any educational policy or reform
Final Essay (6-8 pages double-spaced): Choose one of the following options:
A) Write an analysis of any educational policy or reform. The analysis should explain: the reform, its articulated purpose, its pros and cons, who supports it and who opposes it and why, and the historical and political context of the reform. You should use evidence beyond personal anecdotes and experiences to support your claims.
B) Write a letter to policymakers (either in Tweed, Albany, or Washington D.C.) making a case for a policy initiative (that we did not read about for class) that you think would make a positive impact on public education. Explain the purpose of the reform, why you believe it would be effective, why some people might oppose your proposal, and how you would respond to this opposition. Your letter should be persuasive and provide evidence beyond personal anecdotes and experiences to support your claims.
More information regarding this assignment will be handed out in class and posted on Blackboard. This assignment will require research and the use of sources beyond our assigned readings. We have a class workshop to help you find appropriate sources for your topic. You must submit a topic proposal for approval, along with complete citations for 5 potential sources, by Wednesday, May 1st.
Assigned Readings
American Radio Works. “A Brief History of School Discipline.” http://www.
Barnum, Matt. “6 problems the NAACP has with charter schools — and 5 of its ideas for how to reshape the sector.” Chalkbeat (July 27, 2017).
Barnum, Matt. “Students’ Math Scores Drop for Years after Using a Private School Voucher in Country’s Largest Program.” Chalkbeat (August 9, 2018)
Blad, Evie. (January 24, 2017) “Impact of School Police, Many Unanswered Questions.” Education Week http://www.edweek.org/ew/
Camera, Lauren. “U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to Congress: Make School Funding More Equitable.” U.S. News (January 11, 2018). https://www.usnews.com/
Darling-Hammond, Linda. “Inequality and School Resources: What It Will Take to Close the Opportunity Gap.” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner (eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 77-97. Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Deming, David, Cohodes, Sarah, Jennings, Jennifer, and Christopher Jencks. “When Does Accountability Work?” Education Next 16.1 (2016): 71-76.
DeVos, Betsy. “Prepared Remarks by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to the American Enterprise Institute” January 16, 2018.
Edbuild. http://funded.
Gottlieb, Derek and Jack Schneider. “Putting the Public Back into Public Accountability” Kappan100. 3 (November, 2018): 29-32.
Goldstein, Dana. The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession (New York, DoubleDay2014). Introduc
Green, Elizabeth. “Beyond the viral video: Inside educators’ emotional debate about ‘no excuses’ discipline” March 8, 2016.http://www.chalkbeat.org/
Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “Choosing a Segregated School for my Daughter in a Segregated City.” New York Times Magazine. June 9, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/
Hanushek, Eric. “Misplaced Optimism and Weighted Funding.” Education Next March 29, 2012. http://educationnext.
Harris, Elizabeth and Josh Katz. “Why are New York’s Schools Segregated? It’s Not as Simple as Housing.” New York Times (May 2, 2018). https://www.nytimes.
Hefling, Kimberly and Caitlin Emma. “How Betsy DeVosSoftened Her Message on School Choice: Trump’s Most Controversial Cabinet Member Backs Away from Divisive Rhetoric” Politico (February 7, 2018).
Hess, Frederick. Letters to a Young Education Reformer(Harvard Education Press, 2017).
Hill, Paul. “What’s at Stake in the Ongoing Fight About School Spending Comparability?” Education Next (June 23, 2016).
Kantor, Harvey, and Robert Lowe. “The Price of Human Capital: The Illusion of Equal Educational Opportunity.” In Michael Katz and Mike Rose (eds). Public Education under Siege. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013): 75-83.
Khadaroo, Stacy Teicher . “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline?” Christian Science Monitor. March 31, 2013. http://www.csmonitor.
Labaree, David. “Public Schools for Private Gain: The declining American Commitment to Serving the Public Good,” Phi Delta Kappan (October 22, 2018), with responses by Eric Hanushek, Johann Neem, James Shuls, Noliwe Rooks, and David Labaree.https://www.
Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “Lack of Achievement of Loss of Opportunity?” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner(eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 11-22. Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Lerner, Sharon. “The Abbott Districts’ Fortunate Few” Prospect (January 2014).http://prospect.org/
McGuinn, Patrick. “From No Child Left behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act: Federalism and the Education Legacy of the Obama Administration.”Publius (June 5, 2016): 1-24.
Montalbano, Pamela D. (2017). http://steinhardt.nyu.
NprEd. “No Child Left Behind: What Worked and What Didn’t.” (October 27, 2015). http://www.npr.org/
Orfield, Gary. “Housing Segregation Produces Unequal Schools: Causes and Solutions.” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner (eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance(New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 40-60. Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Putnum, Hannah, Hansen, Michael, Walsh, Kate, and Quintero, Diana. High Hopes and Harsh Realities: The Real Challenges to Building a Diverse Workforce. Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings. August 2016. https://www.brookings.
Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, Revised and Expanded (New York: Basic Books, 2010). Selected Chapters
Rothstein, Richard. “Why Children from Lower Socioeconomic Classes, on Average, Have Lower Academic Achievement Than Middle Class Children.” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner(eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance(New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 61-74.Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Schneider, Jack (in column by Valerie Straus). “How Are America’s Public Schools Really Doing?” The Washington Post (October 15, 2018). https://www.
Shapiro, Eliza. “I Love My Skin!’ Why Black Parents Are Turning to Afrocentric Schools.” New York Times(January 8, 2019). https://www.nytimes.
Steinberg, Matthew and Johanna Lacoe. “What Do We Know about School Discipline Reform? Assessing the Alternatives to Suspensions and Expulsions.” Education Next 17.1 (Winter 2017): 44-52. http://educationnext.
Straus, Valerie (really Carol Burris). “The Answer Sheet: How the Gates Foundation could have saved itself and taxpayers more thanhalf a billion dollars” The Washington Post (July 17, 2018). https://www.
Taylor, Katie (a) “At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video.” February 12, 2016.http://www.nytimes.com/
Taylor, Katie (b). “A Manhattan District Where School Choice Amounts to Segregation.” New York Times (June 7, 2017). https://www.nytimes.
This American Life. “The Problem We All Live With” Episode 562, July 31, 2015. http://www.
This American Life. “The Problem We All Life With, Part 2.” Episode 563, August 7, 2015. (Part One Only) http://www.
Tyson, Karolyn. “Tracking, Segregation, and the Opportunity Gap: What We Know and Why itMatters.” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner (eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 169-180.Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Ujifusa, Andrew. “Betsy DeVos Revokes Obama Discipline Guidance Designed to Protect Students of Color.” Education Week (December 21, 2018). http://blogs.edweek.
Welner, Kevin and Prudence Carter. “Achievement Gaps Arise from Opportunity Gaps.” In Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner (eds.) Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance(New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): 1-10. Available as an e-book through Newman Library.
Whitehurst, Grover. “New Evidence on School Choice and Racially Segregated Schools” Education Next (December 18, 2017).
Wong, Alia. “Why Are There So Few Black Children in Gifted Programs?” The Atlantic (2016). https://www.
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